The Things Customers Do

[TheBert 0]

"I'd like to try on every pair of 7 and 7.5 skates you have"

I don't see a problem with this. You can certainly tell them an RBK boot isn't going to fit like a Graf 703, but you really should be trying on as many different skates as possible within reason.

[DarkStar50 679]

"Are you ready to buy today?"

[Drewhunz 3]

Is your time really that valuable that you won't use that as an opportunity to inform and educate a customer? An attitude like that would make me walk away, willing to buy or not.

[#44wannabe 4]

Im with Scurvy, i get it all the time with bikes. Customers that know eveything then fuck their bikes up and blame us....

[Spreedizzle 1]

What do you mean my Avid Mech's won't work with my Saint Hydro's??? ;)

[#44wannabe 4]

Customer: Errr my wheel wouldn't fit into my frame so i jammed it in and now my rotor is bent.

Me: It's a 203mm rotor like you asked for, you said your bike was set up for it.

Custmoer: Yeah, it has disc brakes. So are you going to replace it?

Me: Are you going to pay for it?

Customer: I want to speak to the manager!

Me: *head explodes*

[Spreedizzle 1]

And I am guessing that this is the rear then.

Too many shade tree mechanics out there.

My fave is the guy that "bleeds" his own brakes and then wonders why he gets pump up, and the levers slam into the bar when cold.....and then I take a peek and the organic pads are SOAKED in Dot 4. OOPS ;)

[DarkStar50 679]

Is your time really that valuable that you won't use that as an opportunity to inform and educate a customer? An attitude like that would make me walk away, willing to buy or not.

In a busy pro shop on a busy week-end in a four rink building with a set number of employees on a given shift, a salesperson has to prioritize and use his sales floor experience to make a decision on how to proceed. In some cases time really is money, as in money going into the register which is what the owners pay us to do. We are willing and have all the information to help a customer make a correct purchasing decision. We can help them narrow down their choices easily. I apologize if you feel my question brought forth an attitude. Before this goes into the standard LHS fitting service/online skate purchase discussion, I'll let it go.

[chippa13 1844]

A better response than "Are you ready to buy today?" would have been, "Well, let's measure your foot and see which brands/models we can eliminate first."

[DarkStar50 679]

9 times out of 10 we do not say that when a customer makes a request like that. I was fishing for a response for that comment and I can see the hook was set.

[TBLfan 25]

"Are you ready to buy?" is a poor question to ask. You'd get better result if you asked "How much are you looking to spend today?"

Gives the idea that you're asking about their price point, when really you're asking about "today." Most people will drop their guard and come clean about "Just looking" or "I'm not ready to buy."

[DarkStar50 679]

Fish on!!!!

[hamstercaster 2]

In today's world retail is a tough business to run even for the big chains out there so it's even worst for the small shops out there wether be it sport shops, pet shops etc.

Small store owners need to deal with a myriad of things they need to overcome.

First of all, owning a small shop limits you in many ways. You can't hold as much inventory as the big chains. You can't hold as many brands and models most the time either because of the same space contraints. And as if this wasn't enough, you usually pay more for the same products the big chains will buy because your purchasing powers are limited compared to stores like the Monkeys and the likes. So that leaves small shops at a real disadvantage and their one and only advantage in my opinion is customer service that is often better in small shops than in the bigger shops as shop owners are often the sole employee or choose their employees wisely. Also, big chains often offer other stuff too so they need to hire people that have a general knowledge about many types of products. The same applies to any other type of retail businesses out there. Add to that the fact that money is getting more scarce because of all the oil price hikes, the financial debacle in the States and what not and you get customers who would rather same 5$ on any given product even if it means getting next to no service than paying that extra 5$ to get a professional to recommend any given product a customer may be looking for.

then comes Ebay and the internet as a whole. Bigger chains can afford to pay for someone to come in and build a nice web site with real or not so real time inventory. They can afford to pay people to take online orders and perhaps offer the same product for less online than they are in the store under the same banner. All these cost lots of money to upkeep, money small shop owners don't have as they often struggle to make ends meet.

The only other thing playing in the small shops favor is skate sharpening and profiling as you can't get that done online and honnestly, the small shops are usually more proficient in that matter than the larger shops as they have more knowledge and more experience. Plus, larger shops usually have a bigger employee turnaround than smaller shops and you never know who's the retard who's going to sharpen your skates. I'm generalizing here but it's still true to an extent. It's like going to walmart and asking the employee of the month questions about plumbing as opposed to walking in a Home Hardware or a smaller mom and pops hardware store.

The problem is that customers want it all. Expert advice at a cheap price and this is something shop owners have to deal with wether they like it or not and believe me, I feel for you guys and have tremendous respect for you all owning or working in small shops and I wish you all good look and a bright future

[VakarLajos 5]

Great quote from today

Mom talking to her son as I'm fitting her daughter for new figure skates

"Honey, you're not playing hockey. You know I would do absolutely anything in the world for you, but if you think I'm getting up at 5am on Saturday for a hockey game you are out of your mind!"

So you'll do anything in the world....except wake up early?

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

"Are you ready to buy?" is a poor question to ask. You'd get better result if you asked "How much are you looking to spend today?"

i'd prefer the former over the latter in all honesty. If someone asked me how much i'm looking to spend today, i'd walk out and call you a douche bag. I tend to shop, sit on it, go back and check it out again before i buy it.

[ghockey11 0]

so you would call someone a douche bag who doesnt know weather you want to buy a low end skate vs a high end skate?

That sounds reasonable

[TBLfan 25]

You're in the minority there.

I've seen the results in commission based sales.

"Are you ready to buy?" Gets many more negative reactions, I was told that it is because it directly asks for money BEFORE you ask for the sale.

Most people take "How much are you looking to spend today?" as "What price point are you looking at?" therefore, you're just narrowing their options based on what they're looking for.

Salesman: "Hey, how are you doing today?"

Customer: "hey, hows it going?"

**misc bs**

Salesman: "I see you're looking at ____. Have you been shopping around for a while?"

Customer: "Not really."

Salesman: "There are a lot of choices out there. How much are you looking to spend today?"

[VakarLajos 5]

"Are you ready to purchase today?" is a good line when you're 99% sure they're just using your knowledge and time to advise them on an online purchase.

"What price point..." etc, still leaves you open to handing out your expertise for free.

I spend 45 min with a customer last Sunday and tonight they brought in a pair of the skates he was going to "think about". He wanted them sharpened and baked for free. It's just a constant aggravation.

[heatley015 0]

At our store, if it isblatantly obvious that someone is going to get fitted then buy online then we deal with it then and there ( ex: cust.: well we are jus looking to get sized up for some goalie pads here, we are looking to order them and want the size right) it happened the other day, anyways I sent them away with goalie pad sizing that was a tad too big, I don't care how much of a dick I am, he was wasting my time that could've been spent with another customer. The owner of the store also told me that if they say that , then tell them it is a $35 fitting fee, if they complain tell them to take a hike and come back when they are looking to buy from us.

[Rustpot 1]

At our store, if it isblatantly obvious that someone is going to get fitted then buy online then we deal with it then and there ( ex: cust.: well we are jus looking to get sized up for some goalie pads here, we are looking to order them and want the size right) it happened the other day, anyways I sent them away with goalie pad sizing that was a tad too big, I don't care how much of a dick I am, he was wasting my time that could've been spent with another customer. The owner of the store also told me that if they say that , then tell them it is a $35 fitting fee, if they complain tell them to take a hike and come back when they are looking to buy from us.

I hope that guy never comes back to buy from you and tells all of his friends you gave him a bad fitting. Charge for it, tell him you'd rather not devote all of your attention if you know up front he wont buy, but NEVER do that.

That's the same as flat out lying, not different from a car salesman saying a car gets 50mpg when it gets 34 and the consumer suffers for it.

[kovalchuk71 212]

You shouldnt have done that. Next time just say, "Sorry, I don't have any experience in fitting goal pads" simple as that

[raygunpk 0]

That's absolutely terrible.

[jimmy 194]

That's absolutely terrible.

So, who in your opinion is more terrible, the person scamming the store, or the salesperson who didn't tell the scammer the correct size?

[TBLfan 25]

Well going out of your way to hurt someone is pretty bad(not only financially but what happens if his knee misses the wing and slams into the ice?). Most people aren't considering that they are hurting local stores, they're just trying to save money... They aren't trying to make you go out of business. I don't believe that most people go into a store thinking "Hey, how can I screw this guy over?"

[raygunpk 0]

Yeah, he's not purposely trying to "scam" the store... Like most customers that don't understand that the hockey economy is effed, he just thinks if he can get a better deal somewhere else then why not? If the supermarket sells the same cereal at your "local organics market" for half the price, where you going to buy it from?

I support my LHS 100%, but like I said not everybody knows about how difficult it is to survive in this market.